Continue scrolling for Lent events

What Is Lent?

What About Fasting?

What Can I Do for Lent?

Lent is a 40 day season of reflection. It mirrors Jesus' 40 days in the dessert as he prepared his heart and mind to give up his life for us on the cross, and go to meet his father in heaven. For us, Lent is about centering on God. Sometimes, just like Jesus's time in the dessert ultimately climaxed in his death, sometimes Lent means participating in a type of death: dying to an old identity, one conferred by culture, tradition, or schedules, perhaps. We die to an old way of being, and are then born into a new identity centered in the Spirit of God.

This path of radical centering in God may mean may need to die to specific things in our lives. This is why many people "give things up" for Lent. Maybe it's a favorite food, or a destructive habit. Maybe it's taking something on that can help us grow closer to God. Whatever it is, Lent is a personal time between the worshiper and God, to prepare our hearts and minds to best receive him.

However, there are some times that preparation can be in community. This happens during our meals, smaller and more simplistic than our community dinners the rest of the year, as we use the time to remember Jesus's fast in the dessert. This happens during worship, as we work through our sermon series on Lord of the Rings: What Is the One Ruling Thing in Your Life? This also happens during our Word of the Day.

Word List

Social Media LInks

Word of the day

What is it?

This year, our church is participating in a Word of the Day. Each day a new word is given, and we are encouraged to take a picture of something that we feel represents that word, and then post it to Instagram or Facebook along with the tag, #mwpcLent. This is just one small way to take a little time each day during this Season of Reflection, to remember Jesus and what he has done for us.

The images below are some submitted by congregants in 2017 using #mwpcLent. Each image, in some way, represents the word of the day to the one who took it.

Typically, we gather the week preceding Ash Wednesday to celebrate a day that has many names: Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day, and more! And yes, our celebration is on a Wednesday, but it's the thought that counts! However, since Easter (and therefore Ash Wednesday) fall so early in the calendar this year, we will be suspending this year's Pancake Dinner. But never fear, it will return in 2019!

Eat pancakes, take part in traditional pancake races, learn a bit about the religious background of Mardi Gras, and spend time with your church family.

On Palm Sunday we have our two normal worship services (Modern at 9:00am, and Classic at 11:00am), but each begin with children of the church entering the sanctuary waving palms, to remember Jesus' entry into Jerusalem before Passover.

For more information on how your children can be involved, please visit our Rooted Kids page

“Maundy” is an English form of the Latin word for commandment. The overarching theme of Maundy Thursday is Jesus' new commandment, given on this the eve of his death, to "love one another even as I have loved you" (John 13:34).

Maundy Thursday is the night of the final meal that Jesus had with his disciples. On that night, Jesus not only washed his disciple’s feet in example of his commandment to love. Then, later He lifted up the bread and the wine and established a new sacrament in his name. This is also the night of Gethsemane-the night of anguish of his soul as he faced his betrayal and fast approaching death.

This evening service helps us remember the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples prior to his death. This is an informal service during which we share communion, remembering the Passover meal shared the day before Jesus' arrest.

The service begins at 7:00pm and usually lasts just shy of an hour.

Free childcare is provided.

Services are held at 9:00am (Modern) and 11:00am (Classic). Join us for a celebration of the Resurrection!

If you are new to Markham Woods, please click here for more information on directions, service styles, and childcare. We always welcome guests to Markham Woods, and hope you will join us!

Free childcare is provided during worship, but there will be no Sunday School (aka, G.O.D. Time) between services, due to the Easter Egg hunt to be held on campus for children.

Join us at 6:30 p.m. for a Soup & Sandwich dinner! Different soups are provided each week by volunteers, but we ask that those joining us bring sandwiches to share, if you are able.

At 7:00pm, we will head over to the sanctuary for a brief Ash Wednesday service, where we will talk a bit about what Lent is, and administer ashes.

During the season of Lent, we have weekly Soup and Sandwich dinners at 6:30pm. Following dinner, around 7:00pm, we have a brief Lenten devotional where small group discussions are held based on the scripture for the week.

These Soup & Sandwich dinners are simple affairs--as Presbyterians, we don't fast as a congregation during the season of Lent (as is common in other traditions), but in remembrance of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness, we simplify our community dinners during this time, so we can focus more on community with one another, and community with God.

Free childcare is provided during the Lenten devotional, from 7:00-7:30pm.

There is no cost to these dinners, so please invite friends and family. We do ask that those who are able bring sandwiches to share.

'Tenebrae' is Latin for 'shadows' or 'darkness', and appropriately this evening service is often called a Service of Shadows. Tenebrae is an ancient service dating back to the early days of the church where the arrest, crucifixion, and death of Jesus are remembered through scripture, corresponding music, and the extinguishing of candles.

This dramatic service serves as a a prequel to our Easter worship service and is something you don't want to miss! We will be lead in worship by a special choir, made up of our Chancel Choir, church members, and local college students.

By the end of the service, the sanctuary will be dark, and images of the cross will be covered in black cloth, where they will remain until the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The service begins at 7:00pm and generally lasts about an hour.

Free childcare is provided.

In between services on Easter Sunday, we will hold an Easter egg hunt for children on campus. There is no charge, so please come and join us!

The hunt will begin around 10:15am, and will end before the Classic service at 11:00am.